


The Lovecraft Rip-Off

by LocalLibraryGremlin



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Cults, F/F, Investigation, M/M, Murder, Pining, beans the bearded dragon, cover-up, dirk has a new case and its wild, fake suicide, highschool, its a wild case, teachers behaving very badly, the whole gangs here, there is a mention of a teacher-student relationship but its not in a good light
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:35:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24046012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LocalLibraryGremlin/pseuds/LocalLibraryGremlin
Summary: The Agency gets a new case, Todd avoids his feelings, and there is a surprising amount of glow stick fluid,old gods, mildly burned objects, and angry teens involved.
Relationships: Farah Black/Tina Tevetino, Todd Brotzman/Dirk Gently
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	1. the universe is not convenient

**Author's Note:**

> hello! first time posting to this fandom. i hope that you all enjoy!

Running a holistic detective agency was the slowest and fastest job in the world.

For one thing, something was always happening. Really, it was concerning how often things happened. Stray cats would just wander in. So would lost children. In the first week, no less then three spontaneous fires had happened in the office. Kids trying to escape bullying or bad parents had a habit of running end, which was just concerning, though Farah was always happy to deal with bad parents or bullies (well, maybe happy wasn't the word). Dirk would find lost animals and win reward money. A cougar once broke in through the window and attempted to eat Todd's lunch. A hole in time opened up and 1920s starlet Eleanor Boardman ended up hanging out with Mona while Todd and Farah went to get the Spring time machine and Dirk called the IT guy responsible.

However, the cases themselves were...tedious, to put it nicely. They trailed a cheating husband who was also a cat burglar. They took down an art theft who was also a cocaine dealer. Those were the only cases that they had. And while they were good money, they weren't cases that they were expecting.

Which takes us to the current morning. Dirk and Todd had fallen asleep on the couch the night before, and Mona had decided to be a blanket for them. Todd was the first to wake up, with a face-full of Dirk's hair and an arm slung around his waist.

Todd smiled into his hair, and contemplated going back to sleep, but then remembered that only assholes would try to manipulate this situation instead of releasing their very traumatized friend who was only cuddling with Todd in the first place because he got lonely during the night, and Todd was trying his damnedest not to be an asshole anymore, so no matter how warm and soft and happy Dirk looked, it was time to wake up and go down to the office before Farah came in and got worried because they weren't their.

“Todd?” Was heard, and Todd realized that his blanket had disappeared, and looked up to see Mona sitting on the back of the couch.

“Hey Mona.” He stretched, before patting her head as a greeting. “Thank you for being a blanket.”

“It was nice. Can I be a person for breakfast? Dirk mentioned that you got strawberry jelly and I've never tried strawberry jelly as a human but I was once a jar that stored strawberry jelly and I would like to try it.” Mona swayed as she spoke, and Todd wondered if she was lighter then usual.

“Course, Mona. You just can't sit on the table.”

“Alright. Are you going to wake up Dirk or are you going to keep on canoodling?” Mona grinned at him, and apparently Todd looked confused because she leaned in and whispered, “Amanda taught me that word.”

“Of course she did.” He didn't address the canoodling question, and just nudged Dirk instead. “Com'on, wakey-wakey. Mona wants to join us for breakfast.”

Dirk groaned and nuzzled Todd's shoulder. “Give me a minute.” While Todd dealt with the fact that his entire body had raised a full three degrees in temperature, Dirk slowly sat up, frowned, looked around, and frowned deeper. “What time is Farah coming in?”

“Nine forty, five minutes before we open.”

“Can she come in at nine thirty instead?” Dirk stood up and looked out the window, smoothed his hair, and twitched oddly.

“Why?”

Dirk turned around, and smiled awkwardly. “Might be nice. Also, we should all eat breakfast in the agency, wouldn't want to keep anyone waiting.” Without any other explanation, Dirk left the room.

“Keep who waiting?” Todd called, as Dirk shut the door.

***

At exactly nine thirty five, a whole ten minutes before anything usually happened, a very tired looking women in her late twenties with long curly hair knocked on the door. She was wearing clothes that looked a day old, and held a book in one hand and a container with a bearded dragon in the other.

“My name is Lucia Gonzalez,” She smiled uncomfortably. “And I think that my sisters pet saw her killer.”

Before Todd could say anything, Dirk stood up. “Is Maria your sister?”

“Yes, Maria Gonzalez. Don't listen to what the news is saying, their lying.” Lucia walked instead, about three steps away from the doorway.

“Wait, isn't that the suicide victim from the news?” Todd asked, remembering seeing Lucia on TV.

“Yes and no.” Lucia answered. “She died in the way that they said she did, that's true, but she didn't kill herself.” Lucia turned to Dirk. “She was terrified of water, and if she did want to kill herself, she would have dropped off Beans with me.”

“Whose Beans?” Mona asked, and everyone turned to her. “Is that the lizard?”

“Yes.” Lucia nodded, and held up the container with the bearded dragon. “He was her pride and joy. She loved animals, and she's had him since she was nineteen. She wouldn't have killed herself unless she knew that Beans would be okay.”

Mona leaned toward the container where Beans was. “Hello Beans.” She cooed. “What happened to Maria.”

Lucia gave Mona a look that was both curious and fond, before turning to Todd. “I don't know why the police are trying to cover Maria's death, but they are. Drowning doesn't cause rope burns. I'm not stupid. I don't know why they treat me like I'm stupid.”

“Dirk?” Everyone turned around to see Farah entering. “Who is this?”

“I'm Lucia Gonzalez. My sister was murdered but the police are lying about it. Hello.”

“Hello.” Farah walked up to her. She looked her up and down with a sort of anxious concern. “Would you like to sit down?”

Lucia blinked, as if waking up from a dream, and nodded. “That would be nice.”

With that, Lucia was taken to a desk was a reasonably comfy chair, and Beans was let out of the container to walk around. Dirk gave her a cup of tea, and the agency members waited for her to start explaining.

“We had Maria's funeral yesterday. They made her look all pretty and my Dad gave a big speech about how Maria dealt with her inner demons as best as she could. She usually calls everyday, so when she stopped calling I was concerned but assumed that she was busy. Then I went to her apartment and her place was a wreck. It looked...it looked like the walls had been on fire, but only the walls, and only for a very short amount of time. Like, they were burnt, but not house fire burnt. And I found Beans in the closet, and he tried to find her, and then he let out this, this...it was like a screech, I guess. I didn't even know that lizards could make a sound like that.” Lucia took a sip of her tea. “She had rope marks on her wrists. Drowning doesn't cause rope marks.”

“Why would someone want to kill your sister?” Farah asked, as Todd took notes, Dirk looked threw the book Lucia had brought with her (which turned out of be Maria's planner), and Mona stared at Beans.

“I don't know. She didn't do drugs, she didn't smoke, she didn't drink. She has an ex but he lives out of state. I don't now why the police lied. It doesn't make sense to lie.”

“Do you know what Celb'rath is?” Dirk asked. “There's a page in here that says to deal with the Celb'rath guys. It's dated May 20.”

“That's when Maria stopped calling.” Lucia gulped, and surprisingly, Mona took her hand when her eyes welled up with tears. “I don't know what Celb'rath is, sorry.”

“She mentions them alarmingly often, but it appears that they were just calling her over and over again. 'Change phone number, and if that doesn't work, call the police about the Celb'rath guys.' That's dated May 10.”

“She said that she was having some problems with robocalls, but that was it.”

“Did she ever mention the content of the robocalls?” Todd asked.

“She said that they involved plastic surgery offers and night classes. Which was weird because she never showed interest in plastic surgery and she already took night classes for college. I told her to just let the phone ring, but the calls really irritated her.” Lucia sniffled. “The plastic surgery ones where from someone claiming to be a Dr Melhop.”

Farah's eyes widened with recognition. “Dr Melhop was a surgeon who got his medical license removed for doing experimental surgeries on burn patients. My dad worked his case in 2006.”

“Well that's not good.” Dirk turned to Lucia. “We'll take the case. I hope that you have somewhere to stay?”

“I'm staying in a hotel.” Lucia then hugged Dirk tightly. “Thank you. No one else believes me.”

“Your very welcome.” Dirk smiled at her. “Leave your phone number and Beans, and we will reorganize tomorrow, alright?”

“Alright.” Lucia looked like she was going to burst into tears, but also looked extremely hopeful. “Thank you.”

Lucia shook hands with Todd, Farah, and Mona before leaving. She placed Beans on the desk with some supplies next to him for the night.

Farah started pacing. “We need to get the police files for Maria, and we should probably check her apartment for clues. Lucia said that the room was burned, but the news has been describing it as a drowning suicide, which does sound like a coverup. But, if it is a coverup, then why make it a news story at all?”

“Maybe to send a message?” Todd suggested.

“Definitely to send a message. Maria was getting calls about night classes and plastic surgery, likely from this Celb'rath group. If she genuinely thought to call the police about the calls, then they where likely also threatening in some way.” Dirk added, gesturing widely. “Farah, I like the documents plan, and we will do that tomorrow. But, I think that we should make the lizard talk.”

They all turned their attention to Beans, who was eating a piece of lettuce. While Beans was a lovely bearded dragon specimen, he did not appear to have mastered speech.

Mona leaned towards Beans, and turned into a bearded dragon. Beans looked at Mona. Mona looked at Beans. Todd sighed deeply.

“My life is so fucking weird.”

“Shush.” Dirk waved his hand at Todd.

Beans and Mona made little chirping noises at each other. Beans made a particularly sad chirp, and Mona nodded sympathetically (as sympathetically as a lizard can nod).

Once they where done, Mona turned back into a human. “Beans said that the men with green hoods and gold faces took her.”

“How many?” Farah asked.

“Beans said at least twenty. They came in, burnt the walls, and took Maria. Beans tried to help but he was in his tank and couldn't get out.”

“Poor Beans.” Dirk frowned. “I wonder why they burnt the walls.”

“Beans said that they were shrieking the entire time, like a hawk.” Mona added, before turning into a small radio. That way, she wouldn't have to be human, but she could still communicate with her.

“Farah, do you want to stay the night?” Todd offered, because Farah was already starting to pace nervously and he wasn't sure if she wanted to drive.

“Me and Todd can share the bed, and I'm sure that Mona wouldn't mind being a blanket if you don't want our extras.” Dirk said, Mona briefly playing 'Hey Jude' to confirm that she would not mind being a blanket.

Todd felt his skin prickled with either nervous excitement or just nerves when Dirk mentioned sharing the bed, but he ignored it for now, and filed it away to 'things to think about later'. There where a lot of things that Todd had to think about later, it was almost a little concerning.

“...Sure. Then we can also be closer together tomorrow, which means that we can figure out a game plan tomorrow, and then we won't have to wait for anyone to come to the agency, so then maybe Todd and Mona can stay back and hopefully access police records while Dirk and I investigate Maria's apartment.”

“Let's just talk about it tomorrow.” Todd said.

So, several hours later of phone calls and basic research about Maria Gonzalez (which didn't turn up much) they sent Farah up on the couch, with a selection of blankets (including Mona), and Dirk and Todd headed to the bedroom.

“That name is very odd, isn't it? Celb'rath. Odd use of an apostrophe.” Dirk commented, stripping down to his pyjamas, much to Todd's frustration. “Also not a lot of information about Maria online. Poor girl though, the news article made her predicament sound miserable. Which is odd because Lucia didn't make her sound miserable.”

“It's a coverup. And Celb'rath sounds like some Lovecraft bullshit.” Todd responded, trying his best not to look at Dirk.

“I don't follow.”

“Lovecraft, he's a writer. Wrote a bunch of weird horror novels and was very racist. He was also really scared of octopus apparently.”

Dirk frowned. “Sounds unpleasant.”

They both got into bed, and Dirk, because he has no concept of personal space, immediately curled up next to Todd, slightly resting his cheek on his shoulder.

“This is still okay, right?” Dirk asked, quieter then he had been the whole day.

“Course.” Todd answered, ignoring the lump in his throat. “Are the nightmares back?”

“Their better when your around.” Dirk mumbled, and pressed himself a little tighter into Todd.

And Todd laid there, trying to ignore the all-consuming thought of how incredibly unfair it was for Dirk Gently to be this sweet.


	2. strange children are strange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dirk meets teens in a diner, while Tina and Hobbs meet a very quite young lady.

The next day started at four in the morning, because that is when Dirk woke up Todd, demanding that they go get breakfast at the local diner. Todd was grumpy, and Mona decided to be a rainbow-beaded bracelet for the event. Thankfully, the waffles at the diner where delicious.

So, they where at the table, eating waffles, and Dirk said that everyone should remain very quiet, so they did. Which meant that it was very easy for them to listen to the group of tenth graders at the table behind them.

“Did you guys know that Mr Cemper's part of a cult?” One with a green snapback said.

“I heard that he's sleeping with one of his students.” Said a student with very long nails.

“That's a felony, Miranda.” Said a different student with frayed blue hair.

“Exactly! We should expose him!”

“Are we really going to move past the cult thing?” Another student with oversized glasses asked.

“It's called Celb'rath. I found it on Youtube. They try to present themselves as a self help group, but the self help part involves a lot of PCP. Mr Cemper appeared in a ton of videos.”

“He's a creep anyways.”

Dirk then turned around to face the students. “What's the name of the teacher involved in the cult?”

“Where you listening to us?”

“In my defence, you are all very loud. But very insightful! I'm a private investigator, and this is Todd, my assistant. I also have another assistant, named Farah, who mostly handles the punching. Anyways, you mentioned that your teacher was part of a group named Celb'rath?”

“Yeah, man. Celb'rath. They do an amazing amount of PCP!” The snapback kid said, before his friends could shut him up. “Hey are you that Dirk Gently guy?”

“That I am.”

“Dude, I keep on seeing your ads in the paper! My sister wants to hire you because she thinks that a UFO took our cousin, and that the governments trying to hide it. I think that Eddie just did too much weed and fell into a creek.”

“Kevin, stop talking.” The blue-haired one.

“I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you. it's just that my newest case involves a likely murder that involves the Celb'rath group.”

“Murder?!” All the students at the table yelled, which caused them to be shushed by other people at nearby tables.

Kevin (the snapback kid) started talking again. “Do you think Mr Cemper murdered someone?”

“Well, I don't know Mr Cemper personally, so I can't say anything for certain. I don't even know what Celb'rath is, just that they harassed the victim of my murder case and them potentially drowned her.”

“Okay, I think we should go.” The blue haired one said, standing up. “It was very nice to meet you, but we all have class in the morning-Kevin, stop pouting, your mom will kill you if you get involved in a murder investigation.”

“Take my card!” Dirk said, pulling a small business card, which Todd couldn't help but wonder if it was Mona. “Call me or the agency if you have any information.”

The students waved goodbye, and left the diner. Dirk was beaming. Mona turned into a her human form and was also beaming. Todd was tired, but still smiled because Dirk looked lovely when he smiled, and Todd lost the ability to not smile when Dirk smiled a long time ago.

“Well,” Dirk said, digging into his waffles. “This case has an excellent starting point.”

***

After that, nothing much happened for the next eight hours. Maria didn't have a criminal record, by all accounts she was an exemplary student, payed rent on time, and as far as people knew, did not interact with a strange PCP cult. Farah handled the background check, Dirk spoke to her neighbours, and Todd and Mona continued trying to get information out of Beans, who reported the strong smell of burning while Maria was taken.

***

So, that takes us to the small town of Bergsberg, where Tina and Hobbs were currently trying to clean the young lady that Scott Boreton brought in.

“And your not going to arrest me?” Scott asked, bouncing his left leg.

“Course not. We just need to know where you found her, and then we probably have to call social services and see if we can find her parents.” Hobbs answered, gently patting Scott's shoulder.

“And then we can find out what the hell this goop is.” Tina said, said rubbing off more of the faintly glowing blue goop off of the girl's cheek.

“That too.”

“I found her by the side of the road. She was just standing there. I thought that she was maybe just super high or something, but then she started screaming. She ran to my car and I let her inside.” Scott fidgeted with his fingers. “I didn't know where else to take her.”

“Well, I'm glad that you took her here. We'll just clean her up, give her a hot drink, and see if she feels ready to talk. Luckily she doesn't seem to be hurt, and she does have a shirt on, so hopefully aside from being scared she's okay.” Hobbs smiled at the girl, who just averted her eyes. “Might take her down to the hospital later, if she's okay with that.”

The girl said nothing, and simply wrung the bottom of her shirt. The shirt was green, and went down to the tops of her knees. Hobbs and Tina where both hoping that she had simply being wearing it as a dress.

“I'm not gonna be arrested, right?” Scott asked.

Hobbs laughed and said no. After that, Scott left, and Tina turned towards the girl.

“Wanna take a shower?”


	3. the cult appears to be overdramatic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dirk gets a phone call, Todd and Farah discuss the cults strangeness, and we get a peak into said cult.

After going back to the agency and sleeping for three more hours, Farah corralled everyone into the car, and after picking up the key from Lucia, they drove to Maria's house. It was a small yellow bungalow, with wide windows and a garden with marigolds and violets. The door was a pale green, and the key was met with no resistance from the lock. If the police had been there, there was no indication: no police tape, no signs of the inside being clean, and there certainly weren't any police watching to make sure that nobody was illegally entering a house.

The walls were scorched inside. The place reeked of sulphur and ether. The coffee table was also scorched. There were also the glowing blue remnants of footsteps around the house.

“Not to make assumptions, but I don't think that Maria killed herself.” Dirk said, walking into the kitchen.

“We already established that.” Farah said, kneeling down to look at a blue footprint. “Todd, what do you think-oh hi Mona.”

“Hi.” Mona smiled, and leaned down to touch the substance with her finger. “Dibutyl phthalate. I used to be this stuff all the time.”

“Glow stick fluid.” Farah said, standing back up. “It's all over the floor.”

“Is that normal?” Mona asked, tilting her head.

“No.” Farah moved towards the couch. “They lead down the hall, towards what looks like the bedroom.”

The girls followed the footsteps into the bedroom. The blue marks surrounded the bed, which appeared to have been broken in half and also burned. In the same glowing blue, there was writing on the wall. _WEEP AS HE RISES._

“Sounds like something Mr Priest would say.” Mona said, getting closer to the wall. “But even stranger.”

“Lucia didn't mention this.”

“She seemed very upset. Maybe she just went to the living room, and didn't explore more. Wasn't Maria's body found fast?”

“Very fast. Bizarrely fast.”

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Dirk was going through her cabinets.

“What are you looking for?” Todd asked in mild frustration.

Dirk shrugged. “Hopefully paprika-hey! An alarming jar of what appears to be...purple...tentacles?” Dirk passed the mason jar over to Todd, who nearly dropped it in shock. “Thats not usually kept in the spice cabinet.”

“He will rise.” Todd said, reading the message on the lid of the jar. “Extra odd. These look like octopus.”

“Think she bought them on her own?” Dirk asked, getting out of the cabinets.

“Probably not.” Todd sighed and put the jar on the counter. “This doesn't make sense.”

“Actually I think it's making more sense then either the Springs case or the Wendimoor case. Someone or multiple someone's, likely belonging to this Celb'rath group, took Maria, killed her, then made sure that the death was recorded as a suicide.”

“But that doesn't make sense. Those kids in the diner described Celb'rath as a drug cult. This,” Todd pointed to the jar. “Doesn't look like something a drug cult would do. And if Maria's death was to send a message, then why report it as a suicide? Who does that send a message too? And, why would a drug cult bother someone who wasn't involved in drugs? They bothered her, not the other way around.”

“Isn't that how cults normally work though? They go after people.”

“Yeah, but if she said no, multiple times, then why not just go after other people?”

Dirk frowned, before grabbing the jar and gently stroking it. “Maybe they needed her for something.”

“I don't like how your holding that.”

“Oh don't be silly, Todd, it's not like it'll possess me.” Dirk snarked. Then his phone rang. “Hello? Kevin! Yes, from the diner! It's good to hear from you too! How are you?” Dirk pointed towards the phone and mouthed 'it's Kevin' to Todd. “You have information? Well Kevin that's great-Oh.” Dirk paused, and his face turned to one of concern. “That's truly awful, I'm sorry. How is your friend...well that's good...the teacher said that he was needed for Celb'rath?...no, that's not like our other victim...yes, that is very odd...could I talk to him?” Dirk paused for quite a while, nodding while Kevin explained the situation. “Who is protecting him, exactly? I'm just not sure I know what you mean by magical bikers...the Rowdy 3?! Yes I do know them! Is there anywhere I could meet you?” Dirk gestured widely at Todd to get a pen and paper. “245 Wemberly Drive...at six o'clock...alright, Kevin, I'll see you then.”

“Did one of the kids from the diner just call you?”

“Yes, Todd, we've had our first break in the case. That was Kevin, and his friend, Charlie, was assaulted by his teacher with a chemistry textbook, which is obviously awful. Luckily, the Rowdy 3, all six of them, including Amanda, managed to beat the hell out of the teacher-Kevin's words, not mine. Apparently, the teacher told Charlie that he was needed by Celb'rath!”

“Wait, Amanda's in town?”

“That's what you took from this?”

“Dirk.”

“Yes, and we're all meeting up at six tonight, so I hope that your on your best behaviour around the Rowdy 3. Now, Charlie is a high schooler, which is very different from Maria, who wasn't in high school.” Dirk paused. “They said that they needed him. What does that mean?”

“You don't think it's a sex cult, do you?”

“Well god Todd, I hope not. That would easily make this one of the most unpleasant things we've encountered on a case. Also, I can't imagine how tentacles are involved in sex. Well, at least dead slimy ones.”

Todd rolled his eyes again. “You said that the teacher assaulted Charlie, right?”

“Yes, Todd, I just said that.”

“Didn't Lucia mention that when Maria complained that robocalls, that people were trying to offer her night classes? Lots of those take place in highschool classrooms.”

Dirk's eyes widened in shock, before grinning widely. “Todd your brilliant! We'll have to talk to all of the teachers at Kevin's school, and figure out which ones belong to Celb'rath, and which ones are merely unsuspecting staff members who are unknowingly surrounded by Celb'rath.”

“Oh joy.” Todd sighed again. “What time is it? We should get Farah and Mona.”

“It's two thirty, Todd.”

“Didn't Maria go to college?”

“Yes, Lucia said that she took night classes.”

“We should check the campus, talk to her teachers. Maybe they noticed something.”

“Like strange blue fluid?” Farah walked into the kitchen, with Mona in tow. “Her walls are covered in dibutyl phthalate. It's glow stick fluid.”

“They also said WEEP AS HE RISES,” Mona added, raising her voice. “Is that new slang?”

“No.” Todd said, before Dirk could argue against it. “If this is a cult, then why the theatrics?”

“Aren't cults usually somewhat dramatic?” Dirk asked.

“Yeah, but this is overkill. That kid at the diner-”

“Kevin, his names Kevin.”

“-He described a self-help drug cult. In terms of weirdness, those are pretty common. But glowing fluid? Phone calls? Attacking high schoolers? Faking a suicide?” Todd shrugged. “It's over the top.”

“Wait, who was attacked?” Farah asked.

“A young man named Charlie was attacked by his teacher who claimed to be working for Celb'rath. My informant told me about it.” Dirk smiled smugly.

“Informant?”

“High school kid.” Todd sighed again. “Let's go to the college.”

***

It was sticky and hot in the abandoned theatre. The former lustre had begun to dull, leaching the colour from the walls and letting raccoons nest in the seats. The wood on the stage was rotting, with large spots of black mold on some of the planks. It was not dry in the building, their had been several rainstorms that broke holes into the roof, leaving the building exposed to the elements. The once-red curtains had faded to a patchy pink and smelled of mildew. Dust motes danced in the sunlight.

However, the stage was still surprisingly strong

An altar had been formed, made of an old wooden crate. A blue tablecloth had been draped over it. On the tablecloth, old jewellery had been stacked, strings of pearls, chains of gold, rings embedded with rubies and sapphires and emeralds, oversized gold bangles and silver earrings, all perfectly polished and shimmering in the meagre sunlight. On top of the jewellery, the corpse of a giant octopus was spread across the valuables, the tentacles reaching to the bottom of the stage and curling on top of it. It smelled like salt and blood and vile people.

A man in a green cloak started walking towards it.

“Soon, he will rise. He will rise, and he will rise, and he will rise.” The man chanted feverishly. “When he rises, we will be ready. When he rises, we will give him a feast. And he will tell us the secrets of the world.” The man smiled, with too much teeth.

“He will rise!” Someone else chanted.

“He will rise!”

“HE WILL RISE!”

“HE WILL RISE!”

“HE WILL RISE!”

The chanting filled the theatre, as men in green cloaks came out of the darkness.


End file.
